The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables Synopsis

Expendable: capable of being sacrificed in order to accomplish a military objective.

The Expendables is a hard-hitting action/thriller about a group of mercenaries hired to infiltrate a South American country and overthrow its ruthless dictator. Once the mission begins, the men realize things arenít quite as they appear, finding themselves caught in a dangerous web of deceit and betrayal. With their mission thwarted and an innocent life in danger, the men struggle with an even tougher challenge Ė one that threatens to destroy this band of brothers.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. His is a true cynic who describes what he does as ďremoving those hard to get at stains.Ē The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.

When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra (Giselle Itie), a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchman Paine (Steve Austin). When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.

Today is the day when, all around the world, fireworks are ignited as people celebrate the departure of 2014 and the arrival of 2015. So it seems only appropriate that we would end our year in cinema with a bang as well:

That's assuming all the downloads occurred in America, which they absolutely didn't Ė the franchise has been much healthier internationally, with 72% of the second film's overall gross coming from foreign territories.

The new competition this weekend was no competition at all, leaving the box office to begin sloughing through its slow, steady chain of mostly sleepy stuff that fills in the gap between the end of summer and the beginning of the holiday bonanza.

This would mean Lionsgate would have to work on a deal with Universal to allow these worlds to clash. The Expendables is only a two film franchise as I write this, but so far its collected $579 million in worldwide theatrical gross. The last two films in the Fast And Furious saga EACH collected more money, and that franchise has accounted for $2.4 billion in ticket sales for Universal. And the seventh film will probably be a massive event, given that it's the final film in the series for late star Paul Walker.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recently took his brand of cooking to Reddit's famous AMA platform, and we have five pieces of knowledge he dropped among his many answers. Spoiler alert: he loves his fanny pack.

Because of his status as an action movie god, every new version of The Expendables always brings with it whispers about Steve Seagal finally making an appearance, and yet, three movies in, that appearance still hasnít happened. The optimists among us would like to think itís because theyíre saving him for a huge role down the line, but if the black belt himself is to be believed, thatís never going to happen.

A third Expendables wasnít guaranteed. The second film, despite better reviews, couldnít match the $103M earned by the first film (it topped off at $84.7M in the States), though it did extremely well overseas.

Though The Expendables has obviously become a brand name, with two hit films now out there and rumors of a third all over the place, the concept of uniting a bunch of famous action stars isn't something you can copyright. So while we may never get an official female version of The Expendables

Those looking forward to the sequel to The Expendables will be pleased to know the trailer has arrived online. The video for the Simon West directed action movie doesnít give much away about the plot, but it does offer a glimpse at the main cast.

Writer Marcus Webb filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court. He's claiming that Stallone's The Expendables bears too many similarities, and in some cases is identical, to a screenplay he wrote entitled The Cordoba Caper. The suit also names Stallone's co-screenwriter David Callaham, Millennium Films, Nu Image Films, and Lions Gate Entertainment

When it comes to action movie sequels, traditionally, bigger really is better. So how does an action movie like The Expendables top itself for the sequel, when the original film was already packed with an all-star cast? Bring in more all-stars, thatís how!

There have been no official casting announcements about The Expendables 2, beyond word in late March that "most of the original cast" is signed on to come back, but it seems safe to expect the central figures of Stallone, Statham, Li, etc. to make a return. Hey, now that Schwarzenegger is heading back to movies in a big way

Ever since The Expendables became a hit at the box office last August, fans have been wondering about the sequel, specifically who would be added to the cast. But while we still don't know if Jean-Claude Van Damme or Chuck Norris will be joining the crew, one space just opened up: the director's chair.

What can we learn from a summer with so few superhero movies, so many flops and very little that will be fondly remembered by the time the air gets cool? Believe it or not, there are a few trends to be found

This weekend was a sort of gender war in theaters. On one side was testosterone laden The Expendables pulling for male audiences, and on the other was definitive chick-flick Eat Pray Love reaching out for the

This first of five clips that will be released weekly via iTunes until the August 13th release shows off a bit more footage youíve never seen before, but mostly consists of the above-the-line crew verbally blowing Stallone

There is a basic progression that Hollywood tends to follow when releasing trailers for blockbuster films. First comes the teaser, which is simply met to wet your appetite. Next is the first full trailer,

As recently as November Sylvester Stallone was making big promises about plans for a fifth Rambo movie. But apparently this old dog really is capable of learning new tricks, or at least giving up on old ones

Summerís coming and when it kicks off with Iron Man 2 this May, thereís no looking back. The exciting thing about this summer movie season is that, unlike the last few years, itís relatively free of sequels and shockingly

When August 13th finally gets here and people walk out of the theater where they just saw The Expendables, there is a high percentage chance that they will have no idea what just hit them. It probably won't be their fault, though

As today's workday winds down, I have for you a picture of a bunch of guys you wouldn't want to encounter in a dark alley. Reel Empire somehow or another got their hands on the first image of a huge portion of the cast together in The Expendables

The only thing in this video that isnít grainy is the one element of this film we havenít stopped hearing about, the huge cast. Sadly, the first trailer of The Expendables to hit the Internet comes in the typical grainy bootleg quality, but at least itís something